Carlton and St. Mary dominate city track meet

The first step in the province's high school track and field competitions will be held this week with the city championships held at Prime Ministers' Park on Wednesday and Thursday. Next up is the district finals next week with provincial finals scheduled for early June in Moose Jaw. Herald photo by Andrew Schopp

Both St. Mary and Carlton Comprehensive high schools finished strong to wrap up day one of the North Central District Athletic Association city track and field meet on Wednesday.

High schools from across the city and surrounding areas converged on the Harry Jerome Track at Prime Ministers Park for the meet which saw athletes competing in various events in midget, junior and senior age categories.

As four track and a trio of field events were on Wednesday's docket, Prince Albert's largest high schools dominated the event with the St. Mary Marauders and the Carlton Crusaders both achieving several first place finishes.

For St. Mary, the shining star was Amanda Lepage, who despite dealing with an odd structural issue in her ankle, struck gold in the girl's junior 200 metre dash event with a final time of 26.94.

"She's running on a bad foot," said St. Mary track and field coach Kelly Prins, adding if his star pupil will be able to continue competition on Thursday. "Her times were decent all things considered. She's off to therapy right now so we'll see how she feels in the morning."

Joining Lepage on the podium were Marauders Connor Johnson, Austin Strauss and Aaron Lemoal, who won gold in both the boy's midget pole vault and 1500 metre run events.

Although satisfied with his team's results on Wednesday, Prins said that along with medals, his team took home some valuable lessons as they head into district's on May 28-29.

"Going into districts we are going to do a little bit more on maintaining form and finishing races a little better," Prins explained. "Some of the kids lost their focus towards the end of races so that needs to improve."

Meanwhile on the Carlton side, the girls swept Wednesday's hurdle events as Crusaders Kelsey Fenton, Shyanna Morash and Hannah Donaldson each took home gold in the midget, junior and senior 80 metre hurdle categories.

As Prince Albert's largest high school dominated the event with a flurry of medals, Carlton coach Patricia Taylor said she was thrilled with her team's performance.

"I'm really proud of the kids," Taylor said. "Everything we expected them to do today they did or did even better than we expected."

The top three finishers from each event on Wednesday and Thursday will move on to district championships and from there, winners will head to provincial finals in Moose Jaw June 8-9.

Heading into day two of the city event on Thursday, Taylor said her athletes are revving to go.

"The kids are pumped," Taylor said as day one wrapped up. "There have been so many personal bests today and that's the coolest thing. They worked so hard to do the best they can."

The NCDAA city track meet trudges on with day two at Prime Minsters Park on Thursday with events kicking off at 10 a.m.

The first step in the province's high school track and field competitions will be held this week with the city championships held at Prime Ministers' Park on Wednesday and Thursday. Next up is the district finals next week with provincial finals scheduled for early June in Moose Jaw. Herald photo by Andrew Schopp